Conference Board Help-Wanted Index Unchanged

By: E&P Staff The Conference Board reported that its help-wanted advertising index remained unchanged in February at 41. It was 40 one year ago.

Help-wanted advertising increased in all nine regions of the U.S. with the biggest gains in the Mountain region at 45%, West South Central region at 17.5%, and East North Central region at 14.9%.

"After two monthly gains, the latest measure of labor demand is unchanged," said Ken Goldstein, an economist with the Conference Board, in a statement. "The data on initial unemployment claims and in Job Opportunity and Labor Turnover also show a positive but somewhat uneven pattern.

"The Conference Board's Coincident Economic Indicators -- a good measure of current economic activity -- has been very steady, and the Leading Economic Indicators have improved in two of the last three months. That's the kind of positive but choppy trend line likely for new job creation over the next few months."

The organization surveys newspaper help-wanted advertising volume in 51 of the major U.S. markets every month.